Aggies face another tough challenge at #21 Boise State

LOGAN, Utah (ABC4 Sports) – The Aggies have had two weeks to stew in that second half collapse at Temple when they got outscored in the second half 28-8 to fall to 1-3 on the season.

“Obviously, our record is not what we want,” said quarterback Spencer Petras on Monday. “It’s not where we expected to be. It’s not what we’re capable of, but it’s what we earned.”

“Confidence is the number one thing,” said interim head coach Nate Dreiling. “It’s hard to have confidence when you’re not winning at the at the level that we need to be winning at right now. So, it’s up to us to create that in practice to give our guys a spark.”

Utah State was up by 14 points against Utah at home, and jumped out to a two touchdown lead against Temple as well. Fast starts aren’t the problem, it’s holding on to those leads that is the issue.

“It’s more so about critical moments right now,” Dreiling said. “Right now, we’re just stopping ourselves when it’s when it’s a big play. So we talked about just relaxing. We have nothing to lose. We need to make sure we cut it loose out there, have fun and play with great intensity.”

“I think offensively the main thing for us is that we can move the ball really well,” Petras said. “When things are good, things are really good. But we have lacked the consistency through four games.”

The road doesn’t get any easier this week as the Aggies take on #21 Boise State before facing #25 UNLV. That could mark four games against top-25 teams in the first six weeks.

“I don’t know if we’ve ever had a schedule like that,” Dreiling said. “But we’ll be ready.”

Boise State boasts the leading rusher in the entire nation in Ashytn Jeanty, who is averaging an astonishing 211 yards rushing per game. Jeanty just went off for 259 yards and four touchdowns last week against Washington State.

“He’s the number one back in the country right now,” Dreiling said. “So he’s going to have our full attention, and we know we’ve got to be able to contain him.”

“He’s a good player,” said linebacker Jon Ross Maye. “Boise State, they have a good thing going for him. But we’re a good team, too. I think wrapping up is going to be one of the biggest things for us, and making sure we get him on the ground. Eveyone has to do their job.”

Utah State (1-3) and Boise State (5-0) will kick off at 5:00 p.m. Saturday in Boise.

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